I’m riding on quite a high this month. My manager was finally able to secure the raise I had been asking for! And I’m not kidding when I say I’ve been asking for it.

I point blank asked for a raise over a couple of 1:1s with her because I honestly made a mistake when switching over to her team by not bringing it up. In hindsight, I realized that’s when I would’ve had the most negotiating power.

Anyways, at the time it was considered a lateral move and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I honestly just like her as a boss and had worked under her unofficially for quite some time already so I would’ve accepted the offer anyways. I just didn’t realize how much extra work her department had.

It’s crazy how the universe works. Just last month, I mentioned that I was feeling especially burned out again and this has definitely rejuvenated my energy. She was able to secure a 10% raise!

In addition to the increase in my base pay, all employees in my company will be getting our annual bonus in March so I’m looking forward to that. I plan to allocate 50% of that money to my 401k so I’ll only have to contribute the bare minimum to get company match for the remainder of the year.

The raise and bonus will definitely help to cover some of the extra housing costs as this will be the first year I’ll have to pay my full housing expenses for the entire year.

I worked some crazy extra hours last year that I got extra pay which will likely not happen again this year. Based on that, I think the raise this year will for the most part match the extra money I made last year so I don’t expect too much of a change from last year in terms of my ending salary.

Just to be safe though, I will not contribute to my Roth IRA until I know for certain towards the end of the year how my MAGI will look and whether I can still contribute the full amount.

Tax Return

I decided to file with TurboTax. I got ~$3k back! I filed online and only belatedly realized I could have saved money by buying the software as I had also done my mom’s taxes with TurboTax and we each had to pay $100 to file. The software would have allowed us both to file for cheaper.

Lesson learned for next year! I must say, I quite enjoyed doing taxes (it also helps knowing you’re getting money back). I was even thinking of taking a tax preparation course just for my knowledge and maybe even turn it into a side hustle in the future.

February Budget

Fixed Spending

No changes.

Variable Spending

Utilities – In addition to gas and electricity, my bi-monthly water bill and quarterly trash bill were due this month.

Gas – Didn’t drive anywhere far this month and only filled up gas once.

Entertainment/dining out – Celebrated a couple of birthdays this month so went out to eat quite a bit.

Groceries –  Under budget as I dined out quite a bit.

Shopping – Over-budget. My mom is going out of town to visit family and I ordered a couple of things online for her to give them.

Travel

I think travel deserved its own heading as I booked and learned quite a few things this month.

I booked my cruise excursions and a couple of nights’ stay at the hotel prior to the start of the cruise. This should be the last of my bookings for my cruise trip.

In total I’ve spent ~$2,300 for the cruise, excursions, flight (mostly covered by credit card points), and hotel. While this is an expensive upfront cost, dining is already included so I’m hoping there won’t be too much added expenses during the actual trip.

While I do think cruising cost more than land-based travel, I’m surprised that so far it’s pretty comparable to what I spent last year on my trip to Europe taking into consideration that I’m spending 2 extra days for this trip.

Not everything went so smoothly in the process though especially when it came to booking my flight.

First, I relied too heavily on multiple sites telling me to “wait to book” for a better price. Well, guess what? The price just kept going up. 

I tried to be creative and found that a nonstop flight from a US city near me would only cost 51,000 points (roughly the equivalent of $510) if I transferred points directly to the airline so that’s what I ended up picking. I still had to pay taxes and fees on it so I paid ~$220 out of pocket.

And to be absolutely transparent, I still had to book a separate flight to get into that city (but it’s a short flight) which I was able to cover using credit card points as well.

Converting what I paid in points to dollars plus what I paid in cash, the flights would have cost ~$940. The same route as shown through Google flights paid in cash without travel hacking costs ~$3k! 

There were lower prices to get to my destination but even the lowest was at least $1,600 and those were really bad times or just not doable based on the cruise schedule. 

I honestly don’t know how some people are travel-hacking their way through first class without paying a dime. In total, I paid $220 out of pocket for a US to Europe economy flight and honestly I think I did well enough. Room for improvement of course but for now I’ll give myself a pat in the back.

Miscellaneous

Gifts – Two friends’ birthday gifts and a baby shower gift card.

Pharmacist License Renewal – I’m paying for my renewal now but will actually get reimbursed by my work once I submit the expense. What I didn’t realize was that the receipt I submitted to my expense report did not include the credit card fee as I paid online.

I paid online because I didn’t get my renewal notice in time and didn’t want to risk the delay or the lost check in the mail (flashback to my lost passport). So I’m out $16 but at least I’ll be reimbursed for $500+.

Tax Return – The MVP of this month helping outset what would have been another over-budget month. For the first time in years, I’m finally getting tax returns rather than owing! This makes me think I should tweak my exemptions so I’m not “lending” the government money for the greater part of the year.

It does feel nice that after all the extra spending on homeownership, I am at least getting a little tax break from it.

Investments/Savings

Still no additions to other investment accounts except 401k and HSA but I’m hoping that starting next month I’ll be able to put some money into the brokerage account as I’ll have a higher take home pay from not having to be so aggressive on my 401k anymore.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $24,978.81

Here are all my previous student debt statements.

No updates on loan forgiveness yet so I’m still leaving my federal loans alone. I’m just continuing to make the minimum payment to my private loan.

I’m at 85% to completion on my student loans and I have less than $25k left to pay off! If the loan forgiveness can happen I’ll be in the “10’s”. Home stretch, baby!

Goals for Next Month

Last month I felt a crisis hit me as I realized I’m moving farther away from my FI goal as my FI number keeps growing due to my increased spending.

Well, my day-dreaming self is really tempted to pull a 1 year sabbatical. And while this seems like a crazy idea thought up on a whim, it’s not new. For the last couple of years I had told myself that I’d like to take a sabbatical at 30 years old.

Well the timing is not exactly perfect. I’ve now just gotten my raise and am at a pretty comfortable job working at home. It’s a lot of stress, I won’t deny, but I’m definitely thankful for this job and it has definitely made the decision harder.

As my mom plans to move back to her home next year, I’d like to reconsider a mid-2024 sabbatical. That way, my home will be unoccupied and I can rent it out for the year while I travel.

I can’t quite imagine the rest of my life without working yet, but a sabbatical may just be the cure I need for this burn out.

My goal for the nearer future is still to max out my investments as much as possible.

$26,350 is the combined max 401k and HSA limit for 2023. Maxing these are must items for me. I’ll likely get to max my Roth IRA too which is $6,500 which puts my 2023 savings goal at one of these:

Absolute minimum savings goal (401k + HSA): $26,350

If applicable savings goal (401k + HSA + Roth IRA): $32,850

Ideal savings goal: (401k + HSA + Roth IRA + brokerage) = $40k

I have a fairly good idea of what I’ll be getting for my bonus in March but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. I do think based on my very simplified calculation that I’ll be able to contribute $7k to my brokerage account this year and get to $40k savings goal this year.

That means I need to start contributing to my brokerage account next month!